Spacecrafts use plural devices for operating and monitoring various spacecraft systems. To facilitate both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, most spacecraft systems are made up of components that can be removed and replaced as a unit. These components are referred to as Line Replaceable Units (LRUs). An LRU may be mechanical, such as a valve or pump; electrical, such as a switch or relay; or electronic, such as an autopilot or an inertial reference computer.
Some LRU's (also referred to as components throughout the disclosure) are electroplated using metals like tin. Metal plated components are at risk for developing metal whiskers. Under certain electrical or atmospheric conditions these metal whiskers may vaporize into plasma. The plasma may form an arc capable of carrying high current in a circuit. Formation of an arc is termed arcing or metal vapor arcing (may also be referred to as “MVA”). MVA may damage a LRU and may cause failure of other components attached to the damaged LRU. Hence, it is desirable to know the risk associated with metal vapor arcing.
Although the MVA problem is illustrated with respect to spacecraft systems, similar problems may exist in other systems (for example, ships, space shuttle, aircrafts, automobiles and others) where LRUs are used. The term spacecraft as used in this disclosure includes the aforementioned systems.
Conventional systems use invasive and inefficient processes to determine MVA risks. Therefore, there is a need for an efficient method and system for assessing MVA risk in a system.